Parenting is not an easy task. Parents were not given a manual on how to parent their child when a child is borned. It is all through experience and sharings that we learn the way to parent a kid in the current world. Many parents would agree that today's children is very different from the previous generation. However, it is today's parents who have changed significantly and therefore bringing up their kids in a different way.

There is no right answer to "What's the best way in bringing up a child?" but being a pro-active parent is the best thing that we can do for our child especially during the formative years.

I hope this site can be a platform for parents to share their views and to get various parenting tips.

Happy Parenting! :)

Dental Talk by Dr. Larry Au Yong

Dr. Larry Au Yong, a practising dentist for 8 years will give a dental talk on how to care for our babies, toddlers and expectant mothers' teeth in Puchong.
Title: A Great Start to Healthy & Happy Smiles

The three keywords in this talk are interrelated. The earlier a child can start on effective dental care and teeth-friendly habits, the more likely the child will have healthy teeth and enjoy happier dental visits.


As a practicing dentist with 8 years of experience, and a parent to two young children, Dr Larry Au-Yong will share on practical steps that parents can take in preventing dental problems in their young ones.

Dr Au-Yong will show how parents can work together with their dentist for their child to experience positive and stress-free dental visits.

He will also address some of the common misconceptions and myths concerning children teeth and dental care in children and expecting mothers.

A healthy set of baby teeth, and a positive attitude towards dental visits will steer a child towards a lifetime of healthy smiles!

Profile of Dr. Larry Au Yong:

Dr Larry Au-Yong graduated from University of Malaya with Bachelor of Dental Surgery in year 2000. In 2007, he further obtained a Diploma of Membership of the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners in London [MFGDP(UK)]

Since graduation Dr Au-Yong has been practicing general dentistry in a private group dental practice. He is the dental consultant for the Mother & Baby magazine (Malaysia edition) since year 2000. He is also serving as a Council Member in the Malaysian Association of Aesthetic Dentistry since 2002.

Dr Au-Yong is married and is blessed with 2 children: a 3 year old boy and a seven month old girl. (By the way, Dr. Au Yong's wife, Dr. Vivien Tuan (als a dentist) is also a very passionate breastfeeding mother).

Date: 22 Feb, SUNDAY

Time: 4pm - 5pm

Fee: RM13 per person or RM18 per couple inclusive of notes and a children toothbrush

Venue: The Breastfeeding Cafe, Fabulous Mom

http://www.fabulousmom.com/catalog/showroom.php

Please email vivian@fabulousmom.com for registration.
Read more!

Even mismatched cord blood can help kids

Fri, Feb 13, 2009 (HealthDay News) — An umbilical cord blood transplant from an unrelated or unmatched donor can still help children with deadly conditions such as cancer and sickle cell anemia, Duke University Medical Center researchers report.

They noted that unrelated cord blood may be easier to obtain than adult bone marrow, which means more patients would be able to receive treatment.

"Our study found that using cord blood can be effective, without increased complications, and can provide more matches for patients, including ethnic minorities," lead investigator Dr. Vinod Prasad, a pediatric oncologist in the Duke Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, said in a university news release. "Based on the findings of our study, we believe that unrelated cord blood transplant should be considered as an option for many of our young patients in need of a transplant."

Prasad and colleagues analyzed data on 314 patients treated at Duke between 1993 and 2007. The patients, ages 6 months to 21 years, had malignant and non-malignant conditions.

"In order to match a donor to a recipient, doctors compare HLA typing, a test usually performed on a blood sample," Prasad explained. "In every individual, HLA typing includes the specific genetic make-up at three locations -- within those locations, you are looking at one set from the mother and one from the father, so it ends up to be a six-point comparison."

"In this analysis of children whose donor units were matched at four of six points, the transplant was successful in many patients, with low incidence of complications. Results were similar to those seen in patients receiving closer matched transplants. Thus the use of the 4/6 matched donors improved access to transplant for patients, especially those of ethnic and racial minorities," Prasad said.

The study was expected to be presented Friday at an American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation meeting in Tampa, Fla.

"We have done a terrific job in this country of increasing the number of volunteer donors listed in the National Marrow Donor Program registry over the past several years," Prasad said. "But the fact remains that, for many patients, finding a matched donor can be difficult. Ethnic and racial minorities have the hardest time finding a fully matched donor."

-- Robert Preidt
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Workshop on Successful Breastfeeding

Great news! Dr. Koe Swee Lee, a very popular and well respected Lactation Consultant cum Pediatrician is going to give a talk on "Successful Breastfeeding".

Dr. Koe graduated from Singapore University. She became interested in Breastfeeding when her Professor got a Breastfeeding mothers support group to breastfeed very sick babies in the Hospital 30 years ago. When she had her own children , she breastfed them and saw the amazing effects of breastfeeding on them. Since then she has been promoting breastfeeding and telling mothers and families about the amazing food for babies that make them healthy and smart! :-)

Time: 4pm to 5pm
Venue: Address and Map
Fee is RM10 per parent(person) inclusive of 1 free drink.

Please email vivian@fabulousmom.com to register.
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How to Increase Breast Milk?

Many nursing mothers have the same question in their mind. "How can I increase my milk supply?" Based on my personal experience, these helps me to increase my milk supply:

  • Drink plenty of water, minimum of 2 litres.

  • Take warm bath before feeding. (You can feel that your breast become fuller during warm bath.)

  • Massage your breast.

  • Think of your baby.

  • Look at your baby's photos or videos.

  • Cuddle your baby.


  • I have tried above methods and it has always bring in the milk flow instantly.
    Read more!

    Can Your Baby Take Honey?

    Do not give your baby honey or food with honey until he is at least 12 months old. Honey can contain spores of a toxic bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. Cooking and pasteurization don't always kill these hardy spores.

    The bacteria can grow in the intestines and cause infant botulism, a food-borne illness that is rare but can be fatal, says the American Academy of Pediatrics. The symptoms of infant botulism include constipation followed by weakness, loss of appetite, irritability, and a weak cry.
    However, it is safe for adults to take honey as adults have the immunity and a matured digestive system.
    Read more!

    Breastfeeding may build babies' lung capacity

    Wed, Nov 12, 2008 (Reuters Health) — The exercise that babies get while suckling at the breast may be an essential component of the respiratory benefits associated with breastfeeding, new research shows.

    Dr. Ikechukwu U. Ogbuano of the University of South Carolina in Columbia and colleagues found that by 10 years old children who were breastfed for 4 months or longer had larger lung capacities than their counterparts who had been nursed for a shorter amount of time or not at all. The breastfed children were also able to expel air from their lungs more quickly.

    While the children's speedier exhalations could have been related to the beneficial components of breast milk, "the lung capacity cannot be really explained by the immune factors in the breast milk," Ogbuano told Reuters Health. Instead, Ogbuano and his colleagues argue, the harder work required of babies who drink from the breast rather than a bottle is a more likely explanation.

    Breastfeeding is known to help protect babies from developing respiratory infections, but studies of whether it may reduce their risk of asthma risk later in life have had mixed results, the researchers write in the journal Thorax. To investigate, they looked at lung function in 1,033 children who were 10 years old, born on the Isle of Wight, and were followed since birth.

    The average lung capacity, as measured by the volume of air a child could exhale forcibly, was 54 milliliters greater in those who were breastfed for at least 4 months than in those who were not been breastfed at all. Peak expiratory flow, or the maximum speed at which the air can blown out of the lungs, was 180.8 milliliters per second faster in these children.

    The lung function in children who had been breastfed for a shorter amount of time wasn't significantly different from the lung function of children who weren't breastfed at all.

    Ogbuano and his team note that the pressure nursing babies exert on the breast before milk begins to flow is triple that required when drinking from a bottle; nursing sessions also last 8 minutes, on average, compared with 4.4 minutes for bottle feeding. Nursing four to eight times a day "may also help to prepare these children for a lifetime of physical fitness," Ogbuano said in an interview.

    The findings suggest that babies who are bottle-fed with pumped breast milk may be missing out, Dr. Wilfried Karmaus, another researcher on the study, told Reuters Health. "We may go just in the wrong direction with the pumping and bottle feeding. That's why it's so important to really clearly consider what's going on there."

    Karmaus noted that in Canada and Europe, generous maternity leave policies make it possible for women to directly breastfeed their infants for several months if they choose, while in the U.S. many women must return to work after only a few weeks. Giving U.S. women longer maternity leave might pay for itself in terms of health benefits, such as reductions in obesity, he suggested, calling for an economic analysis to address the issue.

    Source: Babycenter
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    HypnoBirthing Workshop for Expecting Parents

    On 15th Nov 2008, (Saturday), Wai Han will share on Preparing for a Gentle Birth - a topic which will interest all expectant moms - first timers or moms who had unpleasant birth experience.

    This session will be held at The Breastfeeding Cafe of Fabulous Mom, from 10.30am to 11.30am. Address and location map as per link below:
    http://www.fabulousmom.com/catalog/showroom.php

    This session will explore all the birth questions all of us will have. E.g. Why go through the 'hard' way of labour? What's the fuss with natural birth? How to birth? How to push? How to breathe? What is the best pain relief? Episiotomy or tear? What if baby is too big? What should the Dad do?What is HypnoBirthing? etc.. etc.. etc.. We'll enjoy some birth affirmations and a nice relaxation session together.

    Please email vivian@fabulousmom.com to register.
    Fee is RM5 per parent inclusive of 1 free drink.

    Wai Han is a certified HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator, accredited and affliated with the HypnoBirthing Institute. She received her training from the founder, Marie Mongan, and is among the first batch of certified practitioners in Malaysia and Asia.

    She has started embracing and sharing HypnoBirthing since 2003, after the empowering hypnobirth of her first child -- long before there was any practitioner here in Malaysia. Following her training and accreditation in 2005, she passionately brings HypnoBirthing formally into Malaysia. As an experienced HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator, she has helped many couples dispel their fears and birth their babies gently, peacefully and joyfully into the world.

    Wai Han is also a proud HypnoBirthing mother of two. Both her births had been natural, gentle and peaceful, totally free of drugs and discomfort. Her first amazing painless drug-free HypnoBirthing experience led her to her career. With another miraculous HypnoBirthing experience of labouring and receiving her baby lovingly by herself at home, she is even more convicted in helping all mothers to develop the art and joy of rediscovering their natural birthing instinct.

    Besides managing a busy family and career, she also selflessly contributes in local parenting forums, sharing her wealth of knowledge and compassion in gentle birthing, breastfeeding, tandem nursing and attachment parenting. Her website is http://www.hypnobirthing.com.my/
    Read more!